'Some Like It Hot is one of the greatest comedies of all time'

Sir Michael Parkinson, who interviewed Curtis several times, said his performance in Some Like It Hot would live forever.

'Some Like It Hot is one of the greatest comedies of all time. Billy Wilder, did not suffer fools so for Tony Curtis to work with him and make that film shows just how good he was. He was an extraordinary man,' said Parkinson in Curtis' praise.

'Hollywood tried to make him into a sex symbol in the 1950s and 1960s but he was his own man. He was a great chatshow guest and was wonderfully indiscreet but he was very bright and did not take himself too seriously,' he added.

Smoking did him in

He was survived by wife Jill Vandenberg Curtis and six children. Jill opened up about her husband's death.

'He had COPD and very bad lung problems from smoking. About 30 years ago he quit. But his lungs never worked the way they should of. So he was always fighting that,' the New York Daily News quoted Jill as telling Inside edition.

Tony, who is a father of Halloween star Jamie Lee Curtis, had five other children over the course of six marriages. In 1998, Jill became the actor's sixth wife.

The family had decided to bring him home from the hospital before he passed away.

'He died peacefully surrounded by those who loved him... in his bedroom where he loved to be. I'm very happy we made the decision to bring him home from the hospital.He passed in his sleep,' the widow of Tony added.

'One thing Tony always said: 'God is great. He won't hurt us, 'cause he looks like Tony Curtis'. I guess now he knows how he looks,' she said.

Image: A mural featuring the likeness of the actor is shown on the Sunset Boulevard overpass of the Hollywood Freeway in HollywoodPhotographs: Fred Prouser/Reuters